This blog is about my exposure to the Spanish language and various Latin-American cultures through travel and research; particularly Black Latino (Afro-Latino) cultures.

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Monday, December 2, 2013

Afro-Ecuadorian Outsmarts Her Slave Masters

María Chinquiquirá (pronounced Cheen-kee-kee-RAH), a former black slave in what is now Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, is today an important symbol in Ecuador, particularly among Afro-Ecuadorians whom from my observations during my two visits, and from my correspondence with Afro-Ecuadorian Facebook friends, are raising their consciousness and pride in their heritage. Someone in an Afro-Ecuadorian forum referred to Ecuador's black movement as being in the spirit of María Chinquiquirá.

María, born in Guayaquil had a history of being mistreated by men. She lived during the 16th century, a time when being black meant being a slave in Ecuador. Her intelligence, knowledge, and determination along with a thorough understanding of her rights according to Ecuadorian law, changed the course of her history and those of thousands of women in Ecuador as she became the first slave in Ecuador to win her freedom and that of her daughter through a legal battle in May 1794. She won her freedom by accusing her masters of dishonorable acts including, siring children with slave women, requiring work on Sundays, withholding time for mass, and failing to provide instruction in the faith. Her portrait hangs in the Museum of Nahim Isaias in Guayaquil.

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Bill Smith Jr

billsmih510@gmail.com — Bill is a certified professional résumé writer born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, and raised in New York City, the USA near Spanish Harlem where he began teaching himself Spanish at age 10. His late Mexican-American friend, Yolanda Guttierrez, strongly encouraged Bill to learn the culture if he is going to speak the language. Bill took her advice to heart by exploring black cultures in Latin America through research and travel, thus his blog, African American-Latino World.